The Empire Returns – A World at the Crossroads: A Response from an Indigenous Perspective
From the sacred vantage point of our Indigenous Nations, whose lifeways and governance systems have endured since time immemorial, the resurgence of imperial thinking is not a surprise it is a symptom. A symptom of a world spiraling back into imbalance, grasping at the dying bones of old powers instead of embracing the sacred responsibilities of kinship, cooperation, and harmony with Mother Earth.
This proposed return of empire, cloaked in modern justifications, echoes the ancient sickness of conquest, extraction, and domination that has long wounded the sacred hoop of humanity.
1. Empires as Wounded Beings
Empires, from an Indigenous spiritual view, are not just political structures. They are spiritual beings distorted by greed and separation from the Creator’s original teachings. Like a great tree infected from within, their fruits may appear abundant for a time, but rot soon overtakes the roots. The empires of old—and those rising again—are not born of true strength, but of fear. Fear of sharing, of equality, of losing control over what was never theirs.
Our elders taught us that leadership is not domination but service. In the Dakota language, Oyáte kiŋ wówašake—“the strength of the Nation”—comes not from how many lands one controls but from how well one tends to the people and the land already entrusted to them. Extending one’s “security” through annexation or dominance reveals a worldview disconnected from the sacred.
2. The Hollow Core of Empire
What empire ever honored all its relations? Did it protect the four-legged, the winged, the waters, or the unborn generations? No. It consumed. It divided. It built walls and borders across once open lands like the sky.
The resurgence of this imperial logic, under slogans like “Make America Great Again” or through speculative dreams of digital empires, betrays that many modern states no longer trust their people or Mother Earth. They fear collapse, not because they lack power but because they lack center. What they call “order,” we recognize as imbalance. What they call “growth,” we understand as extraction. We see what they praise as “security” as spiritual disconnection and moral poverty.
3. The Circle vs. the Pyramid
In the ways of our ancestors, governance followed the shape of the circle, not the pyramid. In the circle, every voice matters. The fire is in the center, and all sit equally around it. In the empire, power moves upwards, hoarded by the few. In our way, power flows outward like water, nourishing all.
Empires thrive on hierarchy, but our Indigenous laws and teachings thrive on Wóokiya, the spirit of mutual assistance, and Wóuŋspe, sacred wisdom. These principles call us not to compete for control but to consult, listen, seek unity with diversity, uphold holy law, and not impose human law on others.
4. The Moral Reckoning of Empire
Clearly, no empire has ever risen without spilling sacred blood. Whether it be the swords of the Mongols, the ships of the British, or the drone warfare of today’s empires, all have violated the sacred trust between human beings and the Creator.
As the world faces ecological collapse, mass migration, digital warfare, and spiritual fragmentation, empire is not the medicine—it is the disease. The return of empires signals not evolution, but regression. Instead, we see the need for re-sovereignization—not of new empires—but of the peoples, lands, and laws buried beneath colonialism's weight.
5. A New World Rooted in the Old Ways
There is another path. A sacred path. A Čhaŋté Wašté, a good-hearted way, where governance is rooted in responsibility, not conquest. Where treaties are honored. Where the wisdom of the Elders, the knowledge of the land, and the dreams of the youth are brought together in sacred unity. We walk not as empires rising, but as Nations healing together.
Let the Western world discuss the "return of empire" as it wishes. But we believe the Ȟe Sápa (Black Hills) will never belong to a crown. The rivers cannot be owned. The sky has no border. Authentic leadership comes not from expanding territory but from expanding understanding, compassion, and balance.
6. The Sacred Prophecy and the Hoop of the World
In these times foretold by our Prophets, the sacred hoop is mending. The Condor flies with the Eagle. The Quetzal joins the Hummingbird. The time of Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka, the Great Mystery, is returning to the center of our lives—not through empire—but through renewal, through Wóčhekiye, prayer, and collective action guided by sacred principles.
Let the empires rise if they must, but know this: they will fall again. And what will remain is what was always here—the land, the people, the spirit, and the sacred law of life.
Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ—All Our Relations.
Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. Šúŋkmanu- Čhąnúpa Sápa, Hinhan Wíčhašta, Pizi, Deloria Tióšpayes Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ Oyáte and Chickasaw Nation
Illustration by Zhaawano Giizhik
